Tips for a new trainee teacher (from parents or current teachers)

[Dearly89]

Hi all!

I am 24 and beginning my teacher training in a couple of weeks. The course I am taking is very practical focused so I spend 4 days a week volunteering in my village school and then studying online in the evenings.

I am training to be a primary school teacher and I have been told I have a rota that spreads my time across all the year groups.

I am looking for any crucial tips/advice from current teachers or even parents please?

Is there anything to be particularly aware of or common mistakes that new trainees make?

I am also wondering what I should wear. The school is very lax and many teachers just wear jeans and jumpers but I would like to put a bit more effort in. I was thinking some floaty midaxi skirts, blouses, tights and pumps? Would this be appropriate? I don't want to wear anything that brings the wrong attention but would also like to feel like I have made effort.

Any advice would be so appreciated!!

Listen and watch.
Muck in and help whenever you can.
Ask if you are unsure about something.
Expect the staff to be busy - it's the start of term, they are setting up routines and getting to know their class - you won't be their priority.

I'd wear similar clothes to the staff - however if you want to wear dresses I'd suggest wearing them with flat shoes or trainers.
Don\t wear anything you don't want to get glue/paint/snot on - schools are messy places.

Talk to the TAs! They often know a lot more of the minutiae...

Reframe your mindset. You’ll be working not volunteering 😊. Good luck.

Haha of course! Unpaid work but still work! I'm really excited

Wear what you can comfortably and modestly get up off the floor quickly and run across the classroom in! I wear jeggings or trousers and a tangle of tops depending on how cold it is because the heating won't come on until October half term and you will still have windows and doors open.

Make sure if the teacher is known as Mr/Mrs/Miss Surname you do the same. The children do treat people by how senior they think they are and whilst having a friendly positive attitude is great you are not their friend. You are there to teach them not be their BFF!

I hope this doesn't sound mean but it is so important. I had a student teacher who let a child always sit next to her, chose her first for everything and even let her sit on her lap. Then she had to tell the child off for biting someone and it led to chaos, the child was devastated that her friend was telling her off, her parents were not happy that her child had been told off by 'the classroom helper' and we had to have many long conversations about it.

My main advice is spend your first days watching the teaching staff and do what they do. I have been teaching 25 years and am moving to a new school and will be doing exactly that for the first few weeks.

Don't wear skirts in primary, you'll be up and down. Do watch the staff and follow the policies. Don't be too friendly so the kids think you are not staff, being 24 and primary should be fine though, a level much harder on that front.

I am really glad you are excited about the start of teacher training

Watch and learn is a good starting point.
Don’t attempt to tell older staff how to do things ( yes, students do that)
Respect the head teacher ( again you would be surprised how some students behave)
Advice given to me many many years ago - respect the office staff and the caretaker ( they know more about what’s going on that even the staff believe) - if you make a mess clean it up - a pissed off cleaner is not a good start.
Be aware of the staff room politics - there may be one who always moans, one who dominates and one who wants to tell you everything. Above all - what’s said in the staff room stays in the staff room
Teachers do not knock off at 4 - there maybe a teacher who does - you don’t know their circumstances or their experience- don’t be first, second or third out of the building

Wishing you a long and happy career

Oh and you may be called out on playground duty so you need to be warm and ready to play duck, duck, goose. You may also be asked to join in PE lessons. Also you will be bending over a lot and believe me older primary child will notice bra straps or cleavage.

I know that you have your style but what you described as 'lax' which is a negative way of describing what others are wearing may have strong reasons behind it.

Maybe consider other ways of showing your style? I wear a range of Doc Martens which my children love and t shirts with messages on like 'Be proud of who you are,' I also wear different scarves in the winter as my classroom is so cold.

Or just wear what you want but do it because you are comfortable and covered and ready to work.

@Restinggoddess Sound advice. I wish somebody had given me that when I first went into teaching!

@Restinggoddess

Personally I would recommend being first out the building. Never done me any harm 🤣. We need to teach the freshies not to succumb to martyrdom.

Oh, that rhymed 😁.

Listen to the TA' s they know far more about your classroom than SLT.

Ask for as much Sen training as possible.

If any of your kids have a 1:1 make sure they get their support. No asking the 1:1 to work with other kids/run errands

Don't use shame as a punishment

Don't withhold toilet breaks

Give parents regular feedback

Sometimes children attempt to play different adults off each other, eg if the main teacher doesn't let them go to the toilet, they simply go and ask you instead. A good tactic in the first 2 weeks as you become more aware of routines and rules for everyone is, if a child asks you permission for something, ask them "what did Mrs X (the main teacher) say?"
You can then catch them out in order to make sure all adults are consistent towards every child in the room.

Carry post it notes and a pen in your pocket in case you want to remember anything random to ask the teacher after school, as they may not have time during the school day.

It's a wonderful profession! I hope it goes really well.
Each school has a really different "vibe"/priorities, so don't give up o teaching as a career if it goes badly, the school just might not be the right "fit" for you. Remember, you can learn a lot from a negative placement as well as a positive one!

Watch, listen and learn. There’s a wealth of knowledge being offered there.

Don’t judge. Too often students sit on the sidelines and think ‘I wouldn’t do that’. You cannot imagine the ball juggling needed all day, every day until you’ve been in front of that class.

Game face
Be the adult(to chn you are a teacher regardless)
Don't be the fun aunt- 30 excitable primary chn are hard to bring back down.
Always send chn in smaller groups ( to toilet, to get coats, to put things away- 30 rushing at once is not good.
Smile!

Apologies I didn't mean that negatively. I meant lax as short for relaxed, ie they don't need to wear smart casual or business wear like other schools. X

Send them in small groups to do ANYTHING, esp. FS and KS1 - no actually, all of them.
Eg. When it's time to wash hands / line up - "Line up at the door if you are wearing something red! / have laces /plaits / a J in your first name/ two vowels in your surname.
This way they're listening and you avoid the scrum.
Never say, 'Everyone put coats on, it's playtime!'

Great advice about not being 'fun aunt' - the tougher you are, the more they'll appreciate you.

Have a great time.

Take your own mug and pay into the tea/coffee fund.

Be very nice to all admin staff and whoever is in charge of loo rolls. The caretaker is VERY important.
Be friendly but not let children be over familiar.
Be on time for things
Take layers to wear and be practical in clothing. Schools ruin clothes.

I agree - the people who are the most important to get on with (and will make your life easier!) are the 4 Cs: cleaners / computer guy / caretakers / canteen staff

Another vote for bring in your own mug. Wear comfy shoes. Don't bring in microwave meals that take 10 minutes to heat when 10 staff are waiting and there's 9 minutes until period 5.
All the best.

Or meals that smell particularly strongly when there's a meeting directly afterwards in the staffroom - you won't be thanked!
Bring lunch you can eat cold and a bite at time - often you won't make it to the staffroom.
Remember to pee! (Same advice about one toilet and eleven staff, two mins to end of break).
If you break/ jam the photocopier DO NOT WALK AWAY WHISTLING. This causes other staff to hunt you down with weapons! Ditto, don't leave it without any paper in (esp if paper is kept 5 mins away and guarded by office staff).
Wear a whistle / Bic X4 colour pen attached to your lanyard, literally around your neck. Pens walk.

Don't make a clique with the "cool" kids. Seriously. This is their childhoods, not yours.

In younger years you will find out everything that is going on at home. Be discreet.

Behaviour is communication. What message are they trying to get across through unhelpful strategies?

It's not just the children who do well who are giving 100%.

Be kind. People are trying their best.

If I have a student I always try my best to make sure they have a seat etc but it can be near impossible at times when you’re spinning so many other plates that they do end up a bit forgotten about. It’s really good when a student or new CA just does stuff without being asked. Even just going and getting a child something, helping clear up etc, just generally trying to make the teacher’s life easier. It is really appreciated. There are times when I’ve had a college student in an infant class and it’s been the same as having an extra child to look after. I so remember that feeling as a student too where it’s not your own space and you don’t feel comfortable but just try your best to find little jobs you can do without asking

I always wear dresses, and sometimes skirts, and teach infant school level. Never have any issues. I don't wear tight or fitted ones, or particularly short ones either.
Dd mainly wore skirts/dresses during her teaching practises in primary too.

Infact at my school I'd see most of the women wear skirts/dresses at least some of the time.

No one wears heels really though - mainly pumps or trainers, or flat boots/shoes in the winter.